It's Not Quite a Fairytale
by charley07
Summary: Set ten years after Ali's body is discovered. Life hasn't quite gone as Aria planned and she's having a hard time handling the changes.


**I know I should be working on my other story but the next chapter is coming to me slowly so it's on hold for a bit. I also started school and there will be copious amounts of reading for me to do so that will hinder my writing time, as well. I did, however, write this over the last day or two because the idea came to me and I couldn't let it go. It's not the best thing I've ever written but I wanted to write about Aria and Ezra in the future. Let me know what you think about it. Reviews always make me feel pleasant.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing _PLL-_related. Only Eliot and other unknown characters are mine.**

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><p>Aria stared down at the tombstone at her feet as snow started falling.<p>

"Of course," she scoffed lightly, setting the bouquet of roses down on top of the grave. "I can't believe it's been ten years. Sometimes it feels like yesterday but most days it seems like a lifetime ago. I wish I could say it gets easier to move on with time but that's a lie; if anything, we just find ways to work around it."

"Mommy, who are you talking to?"

Aria looked down at the little girl standing next to her and smiled. "Well, many years before you were born, I had a friend who died and went up to Heaven."

Four-year-old Eliot frowned. "If she's in Heaven, why are you talking to her here? I thought we were going to see Uncle Mike."

"We are," Aria confirmed, "but I thought it would be nice to stop by and put some flowers here for my friend. I miss her. Uncle Mike isn't expecting us for a little while longer."

Eliot opened her mouth to catch snowflakes on her tongue and Aria couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's short attention span or her disinterest in death; she was only four, after all. Aria preferred she not understand such heavy things yet. Eliot was already maturing rapidly and her mother wanted to stall the process as long as she possibly could.

"There's Daddy!" Eliot cried moments later, after the snowflake catching had become boring.

Aria looked to the road and saw a familiar car slowing to a stop. Eliot wriggled her hand free and raced to her father's arms. He picked her up and tossed her in the air.

"Hi, Elie Bear," Ezra chuckled, hugging her tightly.

"Daddy, did you know Mommy has a friend in Heaven?" Eliot wondered, looking back to Aria. "We brought her flowers."

"I see that," Ezra nodded formally, eyeing his wife of five years. "That was very nice of you guys."

After another moment at Alison's grave, Aria composed herself and joined Ezra and Eliot at his car. "Thanks for meeting us here."

"Thanks for giving me the afternoon with her," he replied. "I'm just taking her to lunch and then I can drop her off at Mike's apartment afterwards."

"Sure," Aria nodded politely. "I think she'll like that."

"Well, I want to hear all about school," Ezra told Eliot as he opened the back door of his Range Rover to put her in her booster seat.

Eliot squealed in delight. "I _love_ school, Daddy! My teacher is Miss Jill and she's nice and we paint and play with trucks and go outside and eat snacks."

After getting her situated, Ezra shut the door and turned back to Aria. "I should have her there no later than five."

"As long as she's there for dinner at six-thirty, there's no rush," Aria assured him. "She really misses you so she'll want as much time with you as possible."

Ezra grinned sadly. "I can't believe how big she's getting."

"I'm more concerned with how smart she is," Aria replied. "She won't watch shows she says are for 'babies' and she insists on choosing her own clothes every morning. If I try to read a picture book, she whines and wants something else. We watched _Peter Pan _recently and I made the mistake of telling her it was based off a book so she wants to start reading that now. Not many four-year-olds want classic literature read to them at night."

"Well, her parents are both English teachers," Ezra reasoned. "It isn't too out of the ordinary for her to like reading, despite her young age; we've been reading to her since before she was born."

Aria crossed her arms in the cold November air. "Yeah, I suppose that's true. I'm meeting the girls for coffee so I should get going."

"Right," he breathed. "Well, I'll see you later when I drop her off."

Ezra waited until Aria was in her car before he climbed into his own SUV and put it in 'drive' to leave the cemetery.

"I wish Mommy was coming with us," Eliot said softly from the backseat.

"So do I, Bear," he sighed. "So do I."

Twenty minutes later, Aria made her way into Coffea and joined Emily and Spencer at the table they'd already snagged near the windows.

"Just waiting on Hanna," Emily noted.

"As usual," Aria added jokingly. "For as fashionable as she is, you'd think she'd own a watch to at least accessorize with."

Spencer frowned. "I can't sit around all day, waiting for her like we did when we were teenagers."

"Spence, it's Saturday," Emily pointed out. "What can you possibly have going on today?"

"Three hundred pages of reading," Spencer answered. "Unlike the rest of you, I'm still in school."

Hanna rolled her eyes as she breezed up to the table and took her seat. "That's only because you want to be a professional student and go forever."

"That's not true," Spencer snapped. "I'm getting my Masters so I can specialize in corporate law."

"You've seen too many _Suits _reruns on USA," Aria muttered.

Hanna removed her coat. "I can't believe it's already snowing and it's only November. Caleb is going to kill me when I have to pull all my winter clothes of out storage early. He complains about lack of closet space as it is."

"Ahh, the sounds of early marriage," Spencer teased. "If I know anything about the first few months of wedded bliss, it's that you'll pick any fight you can just so you can makeup later."

Emily nudged Spencer with her knee and looked pointedly at Aria, who was looking down at her coffee.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry," Spencer apologized immediately. "Aria, I wasn't thinking."

"Its fine," Aria assured her. "People separate and get divorced every hour of every day."

"But not you and Fitz," Hanna blurted out. She scoffed when the other three stared at her. "Oh, come on. It's not like you all aren't thinking it. It's weird! You two fought so hard to keep your relationship alive when we were younger and then you went off to California together when you went to college and you got married and had Eliot. I've never known a happier couple in all my life and now you're just getting divorced? It's not right, Aria. It just, it doesn't make any sense."

"Well, you're not me!" Aria exclaimed angrily before lowering her voice. "You don't know what our life has been like in Philadelphia. It's not so easy anymore."

Hanna sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound insensitive or whatever but based on what I know of you two, your lives were perfect. I guess it's hard to believe you have problems."

"Every married couple has problems," Spencer stated. "Some are just harder to manage than others."

"Can we change the subject?" Aria requested quietly.

"Yes, because I want to hear about how Eliot's liking school," Emily said. "I imagine she's quite the handful."

"She loves it," Aria gushed, always eager to brag about her daughter. "She swears she's smarter than everyone in her class which could very well be true but it's also likely that she's just a bit confident. Her favorite activity is art but she also likes being read to and she's learning to read herself and that scares me."

Spencer chuckled. "Why? You and Ezra are both English teachers. Reading is probably as natural to her as breathing or eating."

"Yeah, well, I just want her to stay a little girl forever," Aria muttered. "The sooner she grows up, the sooner she'll realize her dad isn't coming home."

"So you're going ahead with the divorce?" Emily questioned.

"I don't know," Aria whispered. "It's not exactly what I want but maybe its best. He's been moved out since August and we're not making much progress in therapy."

Hanna placed a hand over her friend's. "We just want you to do whatever's best for you and for Eliot."

"So, what are your plans for the night?" Emily asked as the girls finished up their coffee a while later. "Spence, we know you're reading but maybe you could take a break?"

"El and I are having dinner at Mike's with my parents so we can all meet his new girlfriend," Aria reported. "And the news said there's a major snowstorm moving in so I want to get back to Philadelphia before it hits."

"And I'll be bribing my husband into letting me expand our closet," Hanna joked. "It's going to involve a fancy meal and very little clothing."

"Ugh, that's enough!" Spencer laughed, standing up to put on her coat. "Em, I thought Samara was back from her trip today?"

"Snow postponed her flight til Monday," Emily grumbled. "I guess it'll be me and a TV dinner tonight."

Aria patted her back. "If I didn't have Eliot, I'd hang out for the night but she doesn't like sleeping away from her bed if it's 'scary' outside."

"Thanks," Emily smiled. "I'll be fine."

When Aria arrived at Mike's later in the early evening, the reason his new address had been bothering her for weeks finally made sense—he lived in Ezra's old building. Walking up the stairs flooded her with memories and tears sprang to her eyes. As she reached the third floor landing, she sat down and cried freely. If you had asked her five years ago if this is where she thought her life would be—separated and with a four-year-old—she'd have told you that you were crazy. At the time, she was just married and a junior in college at Berkeley. When Eliot came along a month after she graduated, she'd been unexpected but a happy surprise for Aria and Ezra. He was excellent during Eliot's first year while Aria got her Master's degree to teach high school English and when Eliot was two, the Fitz family moved back to Pennsylvania to be closer to friends and family. Now, just two years later, everything was falling apart and Aria had no idea what to do next.

"Aria?" Ella asked as she and Byron made their way up the steps. "Sweetie, are you all right? Where's Eliot?"

"Ezra took her out to lunch," Aria sniffled, wiping her eyes and standing up. "And I'm fine. This place just brings back a lot of memories."

Byron nodded and hugged her. "We always thought it might."

"But," Aria went on, "I have to let go, right?"

"Well, no," Ella denied. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

Aria shook her head. "I'm not. I'm just making sure the decision I make it best for Eliot in the end."

Ella led the way to Mike's fifth floor apartment. "That's all you can do. Now, Mike is really nervous about us meeting this girl so you have to promise to be nice. She's been really good for him and he wants us to like her."

"I like any girl who can put up with Mike for more than a month," Aria teased, knocking on the door.

Mike pulled it back and hugged his sister. "Where's Bear?"

"With her dad," Aria said, making her way inside. Thankfully, the floor plan was different than that of 3-B. "Mike, this place is nice."

"Thanks," he accepted, "but Grace gets the credit; she's the decorator."

At this, a petite blonde emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on the apron around her waist. "Hi, I'm Grace Fowler. It's so nice to finally meet you all."

"Grace, these are my parents, Ella and Byron Montgomery," Mike introduced. "And this is my older sister, Aria Fit—uh, Montgomery."

Aria shook Grace's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard only nice things."

"Thank you," Grace beamed. "Mike said I'd also be meeting your daughter tonight."

"She'll be here soon," Aria told her. "She's with her dad right now but he'll drop her off later."

Grace blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize."

"Its fine," Aria assured with a smile. "Is there anything I can do to help with dinner?"

While the two girls went to the kitchen, Mike looked at his parents. "How's she doing?"

"Well, we found her crying in the stairwell when we got here," Byron answered. "Ezra used to live in this building before they moved to California and I think being here is hard for her."

"I still don't know why they separated," Mike shrugged. "She won't tell me anything. And when I had Eliot a few weekends ago, all she could talk about was missing her dad and hoping he'd come back home soon."

Ella frowned. "She doesn't want to talk about it. If I even mention his name to her, she immediately changes the subject."

Before anyone could respond, the shrill ring of Aria's cell phone sounded and she answered it quickly, as she often did when Eliot was away from her. Her family couldn't make out what she was saying but they saw the look of fear creep its way onto her face before she hung up and looked to them in panic.

"Aria, what's up?" Mike asked worriedly.

"That was Ezra," she breathed, grabbing her coat. "Eliot slipped on an ice patch and fell and hit her head and she's unconscious. We have to go. Now!"

The other four immediately followed her out of the apartment and rushed downstairs to Byron's Volvo.

"Aria, I'm so sorry," Ezra apologized frantically when she found him at the hospital. "I didn't even see the ice and I swear I was holding her hand. It came out of nowhere."

"Deep breath," Ella advised him. "Just tell us what happened."

He did as she'd suggested before beginning the story. "We were walking to my car from the restaurant and she was telling me about her friends at school and suddenly, she's on ice and falling. Before I could grab her, she slammed her head against the curb." He rubbed his face. "What kind of father am I if I can't keep my four-year-old little girl from falling on the sidewalk?"

"Ezra, this isn't your fault," Aria said, taking his hands in hers. "Can we see her?"

"Yes," he confirmed, leading the way to her room.

Inside, a doctor was writing on a chart while a nurse adjusted the blanket over Eliot's unconscious little body.

"How is she?" Aria demanded.

"Are you her mother?" the doctor wanted to know.

Mike scoffed. "Look at her; Eliot's a perfect mini-version of Ar—,"

"Yes," Aria interrupted, ignoring her brother, "I'm her mother."

"Well, the fall knocked her out but it doesn't seem to have done any serious damage," the doctor reported. "The unconsciousness is likely due to her small size. There will be a large bump but the swelling will go down in time and she should be just fine. It's likely she'll wake up soon but we're going to keep her overnight for observation. You're both welcome to stay with her."

"Thank you," Aria nodded.

Once he and the nurse were gone, Aria sighed and sat down in the chair next to the bed. "My poor baby."

"Aria, again, I'm so sorry," Ezra murmured.

She shook her head. "I don't blame you. It could've happened when she was with any of us."

"We're glad she's going to be all right," Ella spoke up. "We're going to go and let you three be but give her a kiss for her us." She kissed her daughter's head and went to wait for her family in the hallway.

"I'm glad she's okay," Grace added. "I can't wait to meet her."

"Thanks," Aria grinned. "Bye, Mike, Dad."

Ezra stood at the window, watching the snow fall outside, as the Montgomery's finished saying goodbye and left. Even though Aria wasn't saying it out loud, he knew she blamed him; he blamed himself. He should've had a tighter grip on Eliot's hand but at four, she was slowly wanting independence and she said holding hands was for 'babies' so her hands were often limp in her parents'.

"I can see your mind going into overdrive," Aria finally said, breaking the silence between them. "Ezra, I really don't blame you for this. I know El's antsy and hates holding our hands. She falls all the time; this time was just more dangerous."

"But _I _was with her when it happened," he emphasized. "I'm sure she already hates me for not being around but now I'm the parent who put her in the hospital, too."

Aria stood up and walked to stand next to her estranged husband. "She doesn't hate you. Ezra, she worships the ground you walk on. If anything, she's mad at me for not letting you come home."

"But I want to," he admitted softly. "I hate being away from Eliot and from you. You're still my wife, Aria."

"It's not that easy," she stated, leaning against the windowsill. "We can't just pretend like the last three months haven't happened. That'll only confuse her."

Ezra looked at Eliot. "What do you tell her when she asks about it? I tend to freeze and then I mumble something about me making mistakes and I'm on a timeout or something. The problem with that is that Bear's smart and she won't take my excuses much longer."

"Yeah, well, I'm not much better," Aria smirked. "I just tell her its grown-up stuff and she might understand when she's older. She doesn't like hearing that answer but I don't have anything better."

"So why are we doing this?" he wanted to know. "From what Hanna has told me, you're not happy with the situation and I know I'm not."

"Hanna?" Aria repeated, cutting him off. "Why are you talking to Hanna?"

He looked down at the wedding ring on his left hand. "I ran into her and Caleb at the grocery store a couple weeks ago and we talked for a few minutes. She mentioned that you're struggling with this separation and I said something of the same about myself."

"Hanna is under the impression you and I have this fairytale life," Aria explained.

"So am I," he admitted. "Or I was, until August. You just kicked me out one night and we haven't really talked about why. We sort of just skirt around it in therapy."

Aria closed her eyes momentarily. "I felt like Eliot and I were coming in second to your job and I was tired of taking on what I felt like was all the responsibilities at home while you were working so much. And we were fighting a lot and then it got to the point where we were barely speaking and I snapped. I'm not proud of who I was in that moment—especially since Eliot heard us—but I needed to get it off my chest."

"I get it," he assured her. "I just wish you'd have talked to me about it more instead of letting it bottle up."

"I should've," she agreed. "But, like my grandpa always used to say, 'You can't un-spill milk; you can only clean it up,' so where do we go from here?"

"That's up to you at this point," Ezra said. "You know where I stand. I love you and I want to come home but if that makes you uncomfortable, I don't know what to do." He looked ashamed. "And if I ever made you think my job was more important than you and Eliot, it was unintentional. You two are my entire life. I don't even know who I am without you anymore. That guy is a really distant memory."

Aria bit her lip. "I know the feeling. I see old pictures of me with the pink hair at my parents' house and I struggle to remember things before Ali disappeared that summer. It seems like another lifetime ago that we did the things we did."

"I know it's been ten years since her body was found," he spoke up. "Are you okay?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "There are times I still miss her but who's to say we'd even still be friends anymore? It's not like we had much in common back then anyways."

Ezra smiled. "You're still friends with Spencer, Emily, and Hanna and you're all about as different as you could be. Spencer's going into corporate law, Hanna designs clothes, Emily is a guidance counselor, and you teach high school English. And yet, you're as close as I can remember you ever being. Eliot thinks they're the coolest people on the planet, apart from maybe Mike and Hardy."

"That's because Hardy lets her do whatever she wants when he's around," Aria scoffed.

"Mommy?" a weak voice said from the bed. "Daddy?"

"Elie Bear," Aria breathed, rushing to her daughter's side. "How do you feel?"

Ezra went to get the doctor and returned just seconds later.

"Hi, sweetie," the doctor greeted her pleasantly. "Can you tell me your full name?"

"Eliot Jane Fitz," Eliot responded calmly.

He wrote on his clipboard. "And how old are you, Miss Eliot?"

"Four," she declared proudly, holding up four fingers. "My birthday is in July."

"Good," the doctor smiled. "Does your head hurt?"

Eliot reached up to rub the crown of her skull. "Just a little."

"Well, we're going to give you some medicine to make you feel better and you're going to spend the night here with your mom and dad, okay?" he explained to her. "Does that sound okay?"

"Mommy and Daddy are staying with me?" Eliot asked.

The doctor her assured her they were.

"Then okay," Eliot agreed, looking at Ezra. "Promise you won't leave, Daddy?"

"Absolutely," Ezra confirmed, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "I won't leave your side."

Aria sat on Eliot's other side and reached for Ezra's hand. "We're going to stay right here all night."

"Together?" Eliot wanted to know.

"Yes, baby," Aria smiled. "Mommy and Daddy are going to stay together."

Ezra knew she was only talking about the night ahead of them but something in her voice gave him hope that his exile from their home in Philadelphia was to be short-lived and the small smile she gave him moments later seemed just as promising. He was ready to be home with his girls.


End file.
